Bottle-brush robot to clear pipelines the world over

Not like this is a new concept or anything, but Zhelong Wang and Hong Gu of China's Dalian University of Technology have created a "bristled pig" in order to clean the clogged pipes that traditional pigs simply can't. In most scenarios, unclogging devices (or pigs, as it were) are pushed through pipelines by force, though certain bends and changes in size can hamper their effectiveness. These bottle-brush styled bots can climb through portals on their own power and adjust to changes in order to make "unpiggable" pipes clean again. It's a dirty job, but something's got to do it.

[Via CrunchGear]

[From My Cube @ Aug 5th 2008 8:40AM]

in china I thought they used small children to do the dangerous/dirty/slave work?

[High Ranks make you sterile @ Aug 5th 2008 8:52AM]

Your comment is going to get censored on Engadget.cn!!!

[High Ranks make you sterile @ Aug 5th 2008 8:53AM]

Well, shit... apparently chinese.engadget.com and cn.engadget.com exist.... they'll get censored THERE :)

[OneLove @ Aug 5th 2008 11:02AM]

I don't think our comments get posted in chinese.

[avester @ Aug 5th 2008 8:41AM]

Or could they just use small dogs or something?

They get eaten anyways, so why not make them run a bit first.

[High Ranks make you sterile @ Aug 5th 2008 8:55AM]

Why not cut out the middleman and just lick the pipes clean themselves?

Tubgirl would approve.

[cayton @ Aug 5th 2008 8:57AM]

So what happens when one of these gets stuck?

[Matthew @ Aug 5th 2008 9:04AM]

When they get stuck, you launch another pig to knock it loose.

Fun Fact: These are called pigs because the brushing mechanism makes a squeal as it travels the pipeline.

[j_g_puff @ Aug 5th 2008 9:32AM]

I doubt that your fun fact is actually fact, matthew, though it is most certainly fun.

The most common kind of pig is simply a large metal ball. They have no bristles, and I don't think they make any sound (i'm not certain though).

Throughout the oil and gas industry there is widespread use of "intelligent pigs". These are long cylindrical affairs with all sorts of clever bits to inspect pipes as they clean.

[Jack C @ Aug 5th 2008 10:44AM]

What happened when the pig got stuck? they sent another pig to eat it? and then it would get stuck to... and that's why they need the robots, because they don't eat themselves.

But seriously, there's one interesting development with robots (emotional bonding and personalities) as discussed in this article: http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=526&doc_id=155718&f_src=flffour

I can imagine every other robot with those "specs" and getting a lazy one that doesn't want to do the work.

[Abuzar Baloach @ Aug 5th 2008 11:32AM]

Shit, for a second there I thought it was an actual pig haha.

[RCook @ Aug 5th 2008 9:23AM]

I worked on a rural water project during the summer while at college. I've seen a 'pig' used on an 8" water line. Before the line was completed you can imagine what kinds of critters would crawl into an 8" pipe. Well when we put the pig in and pressurized the line it was like a snake bazooka!

Dirty work but someone has to have the fun. :)

[Jason @ Aug 5th 2008 10:15AM]

Snake Bazooka... interesting.

[stevey2k @ Aug 6th 2008 7:47PM]

The internets need a youtube video of that.

[crispy @ Aug 5th 2008 9:42AM]

Pipe vs. Crab vs. Pig FIGHT!

[ShadowKain @ Aug 5th 2008 10:16AM]

Roto-rooter steals the show with a sucker punch!

[Andrew Breza @ Aug 5th 2008 10:54AM]

Pipelines are serious business and I'm glad that there is technological advancement in this area. Imagine what would happen if a high pressure petroleum line were to break. There would be serious ecological damage, gas prices would shoot up, and some people would suspect terrorism.

[blackfeather @ Aug 5th 2008 1:13PM]

Pigs? They should call them Gerbils...

[Rogue_Genius @ Aug 5th 2008 2:15PM]

Oh that's just bad...lol

[THJ @ Aug 5th 2008 1:19PM]

I can haz BLT?

[Rogue_Genius @ Aug 5th 2008 2:34PM]

Did anyone see the Bond flick "Diamonds are Forever" ? Was that a pig going through the pipeline, even though it was using electricity?

[Xepol @ Aug 5th 2008 3:47PM]

I thought this was how roto-router worked to clean plumbing out?

[linuxamp @ Aug 6th 2008 12:00AM]

I need a nanopig for my arteries.